I joined BHW a few months back and have since been slowly building up Twitter accounts. I am currently a business PhD student in the U.S. making basically just enough to get by from stipends, so any extra cash I can earn is immensely helpful.

To this date I have 5 Twitter accounts in varying niches running successfully with over 10k followers each. Obviously this is a drop in the bucket to most around here, but I feel like I'm at least making some progress. This week I started using "MyLikes" in an attempt to provide a little cash flow. After some severe shaving, I've made my first $1. As petty as it sounds, it's an amazing feeling. I actually made some money on the Internet. I suppose ChaCha is a possibility in the future, but I don't want to apply before I'm reasonably sure I'll be accepted. I've heard you can't reapply for a year after being rejected. Even then, I'm not sure how lucrative ChaCha really is.

In order to get away from the MyLikes trap, I have purchased a couple domains that I feel have high potential, and am concentrating on just one for now (as I am limited for time) that aims for a specific niche in the sporting goods community. The plus side is that I am very knowledgeable in this area and can produce high quality articles, photos, and YouTube videos to cater to the audience.

It is my sense that this area is underdeveloped, and participants in the niche spend a lot of money on it and get a lot of value from Internet research. I don't think there is a lot of competition from people who make money with Internet marketing here, either. My hope is that a well-developed and highly visited site can generate big money. Eventually the thought of selling merchandise has some potential as well, and selfishly, I'm hoping to get some free gear from the major companies for my friends and myself to try out.

I have built a Twitter account for the site, have amassed about 650 real followers in about a week, and am in the process of building the site. I know from experience that the first 2,000 followers on a Twitter account are the easy part, and that it gets tougher from there. One problem I'm running into already is a limited base of large accounts where I can find followers, and a general overlap of followers on the moderate accounts. I don't think this is indicative of potential in the niche, just that the area isn't fully developed. A Facebook page has been created, but I haven't done much with it as I know very little about using Facebook as a marketing tool. Once I get the domain moving, I plan to use outdoors forums and social media to drive traffic.

I also hope to find a joint venture partner that dabbles in the industry, as I think it could be a lucrative project for both parties involved via either a PPC or PPA agreement. It is a high margin industry for resellers and drop shippers. Admittedly this is probably a long walk down the line, though I am quite hopeful.

I feel quite clueless at this point, and due to my limited funds available to invest, the going has been extremely slow thus far. SEO is going to be a huge concern, as I don't think my limited social media reach will be enough to drive big time traffic. Unfortunately, I know very little about the process. Undoubtedly, I have a lot to learn. The plus side is that the main key word related to the niche is in my domain title, which I think should help some.

Just wanted to share the beginning of my journey. My hope is that I can participate, learn, and eventually contribute to BHW, as well as come back to this post in a year's time with a success story. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them!

I was a certified public accountant (CPA) in a former life (and am still a CPA, though I'm no longer working as such), so perhaps I can be of some help to those in these forums who have U.S. tax questions or issues.

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